You have completed a series of kitesurfing lessons, and now you can get up, ride steadily for 50 metres, and do runs between 50 and 100 metres in both directions. Can I go alone and continue practising on my own? is a question you ask yourself (and ideally your instructor as well). Which board and kite should I purchase? ”. The Watersports Centre offers the following advice on selecting the appropriate kiteboarding gear.
As you may think, there isn’t a straightforward solution.
Considerations for choosing the proper kite size include your weight, your skill level, and the wind conditions you intend to ride in.
choosing the right kiteboarding equipment3
Selecting the Proper Kiteboarding Gear
Consult The Experts
Asking your instructor is the easiest course of action. Two of the owners of The Watersports Centre are senior BKSA instructors. Both of them work for our sister company, Hampshire Kitesurfing Centre, and one of them, George Dufty, a four-time British Pro Freestyle Champion, runs advance coaching and kitesurfing trips under the name George Dufty Coaching. There will be plenty of chances to communicate with a teacher before, during, or between lessons, and we encourage these interactions.
Call The Watersports Centre at 07542 8835125, and you may reach Hampshire Kitesurfing Center at 07863 811644.
Things to Take Into Account When Choosing Kiteboarding Gear
Before continuing, you should look for the identical conditions you would have encountered during your lessons when you are heading out on your own kit for the first time “solo.” This means that you should be able to stay inside your comfort zone and be able to stand up, touch the seafloor, or lack bottom. Your lessons will have been conducted in this manner so that if you fall off your board or crash your kite into the sea, you can focus on relaunching the kite before retrieving your board and starting over.
You can learn about the “variables” in this blog article. These are crucial! This is due to the fact that advice given to a single new kitesurfer who is prepared to go solo will not apply to all new kite surfers. Beware: If you weigh 70 kg and your 100 kg friend encourages you to buy, say, a 12 m kite and a 140 cm board because he just bought them, then he is incorrect to counsel you to do so, and you would be wrong to follow his advice.
Age and gender are not criteria to be taken into account while selecting a kite. When it comes to weight and skill/ability level, men and women can fly the same size kite.
Returning to the original query, can I practise alone and go solo, and what kite and board should I purchase?
Let’s look at those variables. “, assuming you are “safe” to execute your first beach launch, get yourself in the water, practise, and when you are finished, get safely back out of the water and carefully land your kite.
- You’re size
This component of the calculation is a little easier to understand because there is a strong possibility that your weight will remain the same or fluctuate by no more than 2-3 kg over any three-month period.
- Conditions
the weather conditions you’ll be kiteboarding in. It’s best to match the kite’s size to the wind range that often blows at the location where you plan to do the majority of your kiting.
choosing the right kiteboarding equipment2
Since the sport’s inception in the early 1990s, kitesurfing and kiteboarding have been more popular on a global scale.
However, kitesurfing and kiteboarding are among the riskiest extreme sports, therefore picking the proper kite size is crucial for reducing dangers and enjoying the sport.
What is a kite for kiteboarding or kitesurfing?
Leading Edge Inflatable (LEI) kites, sometimes known as “tube kites,” and foil kites are the two basic types of kites. The design of LEI and Foil kites is essentially different, as are the applications that can be made of them.
Simply simply, foil kites are more commonly used by kite landboarders and kitesurfers.
Choosing the right kite for kiteboarding
We will focus on water-based kites because this blog is meant to be about those who have learnt to kitesurf on water.
Sadly, there is no standard kite size.
Thus, as we previously stated, the kite size is the most crucial factor to consider when selecting a kite for kitesurfing. Its size is determined by multiplying its length by its breadth, expressed in square metres. A 7 m kite, for example, has a surface area of 7 m2, while a 12 m kite has a surface area of 12 m2.
In general, kiters have a selection of kites in various sizes for various winds in order to take full use of various weather situations.
The choice of kite size is influenced by a number of factors, including board type and size, rider weight, and ability level. When picking, consider the kite’s type and shape as well. As factors 3 and 4, we will discuss skill level and board type and size below.
Each kite has a unique spectrum of wind.
To give you a broad idea, the rule is (which DOES NOT TAKE WEIGHT AND SKILLS INTO ACCOUNT):
Large kite for winds between 12 and 15 metres (12 to 20 mph) and less.
Kite size medium for winds of 8 to 10 or 11 metres per second and 15 to 25 knots.
Small kite for 25 to 35 knot winds (5 to 7 metres).
Assuming a rider weighing between 75 and 85 kg, some instances (purely based on weight and ignoring the rider’s ability) are:
Wind range for a 12 m kite is 12–20 knots.
The range of 10 m kite wind is 15–25 knots.
Wind range for an 8 m kite is 20–30 knots.
As a result, you’ll notice that the size and wind range overlap.
This is advantageous since you may choose to fly your 12 m kite but could also fly your 10 m kite if the wind speed is predicted to be between 15 and 18 knots. If the wind forecast is for 18 to 22 knots, your 12m kite would be overpowered and potentially dangerous, while your 10m kite would be in the middle of the wind range. Similarly, you could fly your 8m in winds of 18 to 22 knots, but you would then be flying near the low end of the kite’s wind range.
We won’t go into too much detail on board sizes because there are a lot of variables there as well, and this blog post is about selecting the proper kite size. These are, in summary, the total length from tip to tip (140 cm), the width (41 cm), and the “rocker” shape (from tip to tip).
It is simpler to get up and ride and easier to stay up at slower speeds when the board is bigger since it can be ridden at slower speeds.
The board can be ridden more slowly the flatter it is. Regardless of board size, a board with greater rocker requires faster riding in order to keep you upright while riding.
If you were told that you should use a board that was 140 cm x 40 cm, for example, and the weather called for you to fly a 10 m kite, if you also had a board that was 148 cm x 44 cm and rode that instead, the combination of the larger board and the same 10 m kite would make you feel as though you were actually flying an 11 m kite! The bigger board would have a larger imprint on the water, which would make getting up and staying up simpler. It’s all about displacement. Consider the difference between wearing a pair of snow shoes versus walking in deep snow while wearing a pair of walking boots! Snow shoes’ large surface area would prevent you from sinking through the snow!
Two or three kites would be the ideal quantity to cover a range of wind conditions.
However, if your budget only allows you to fly one kite, it’s crucial to pick the right size for the wind range that often blows at your primary beach. That being said, if you choose to fly just one kite, there WILL ALWAYS be days when you are at the beach or intend to be there and that kite will either be too little or too big for the wind conditions.
Intriguingly, and we continue to find this odd in light of ALL the circumstances, the most popular kite size purchased worldwide is 12 m2. The only explanation for that can be that those novice kiters seeking for their first kite might—and we stress might—be suitable for medium-range winds, kiters of various levels, and average weight.
We must reiterate the fundamental principle that the size of your kite should correspond to how powerful you anticipate the wind to be.
The standard wind range that each kite manufacturer suggests for flying any particular size of kite is indicated. The values they provide are often accurate for riders weighing between 75 and 85 kg. If your weight fluctuates, you can calculate your kite’s size by adding or subtracting 1 m2 for every 10 kg of variation in your weight.
Additional and crucial suggestions
Don’t pick your own kite “with a margin” of size, as a kite that is too large could easily lift you off the ground and cause you to crash into the water or the coast. Injury severity varies greatly.
Additionally, you should consider the season—winter, summer, or all year—as well as the overall circumstances at the beach where you will be kiting. This is because the wind’s direction, speed, and gusts will all affect the wind conditions. Deep winter winds of 20 knots will be much punchier than they would be in the summer. Winter winds have more moisture and are denser. Summer breezes have far less moisture and are less thick.
- Your degree of skill.
The greater winds the kite can be used in depend on your skill level. Of course, the reverse is true, so a beginner should fly smaller kites and in weaker winds.
“Beginners” are individuals who, ideally, are reading this article and have taken a series of kitesurfing classes, are capable of standing up and riding with control for 50 metres, are able to run in both directions for 50 to 100 metres, and are aspiring to “Go Solo”!
choosing the right kiteboarding equipment5
choosing the right kiteboarding equipment6
As a result, there are three stages to take into account: the wind speeds are specified, and we assume that the rider weighs about 75 kg.
Stage 1. If you procure a 10-meter kite. Winds between 14 and 20 knots are suitable for getting out and practising waterstarts and riding.
Stage 2. On the same 10m kite, (in three to six months). If you have been able to ride regularly, you can now go out and practise riding more consistently in winds that range from 14 to 25 knots. You can begin riding upwind at that point. Even though you will occasionally be out of your depth, you can still relaunch your kite after a crash, collect your board, and put it back on while you are out of your depth. You will still be searching for the best conditions and keeping in shallow enough water to be able to stand up.
N.B. You could still hesitate to leave in 25 knots or more at this point.
Stage 3. (In nine to twelve months)
If you have been able to leave the house frequently, at this point you will have figured out how to transition on your own or have taken a course to do so. If there are no risks, you can ride as far left or right as you’d like and travel 100, 200, 500, or 800 metres or more on a single tack—and back again the opposite way, of course! On the identical 10m kite now. At this point, you can head outside and practise your more reliable sailing in winds ranging from 14 to 25 mph.
There you have it, then. Some things to ponder.
Which kite should I buy?
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The Watersports Centre is a dealer for Ozone, Airush, Cabrinha, and Naish kites, with plans to add more brands in the future. All manufacturers produce a variety of kites that they have created for various uses.
For instance, the freeride kites from Ozone, Airush, Cabrinha, and Naish are made to be simple to operate, stable, and fantastically progressive.
The Ozone Alpha and Ozone Catalyst. Airush One Progression and Airush Lithium. The switchblade of Cabrinha. The pivot of Naish.